2 weeks Ago By By Gary Fauber CNHI Sports WVa.
Even after combining to outscore James Monroe 17-2 in their two regular season meetings, Shady Spring was still cognizant of the belief that it’s hard to beat a team three times. The Mavericks had absolutely no time to get comfortable. The top-seeded Tigers scored in the game’s second minute and again in the 10th and didn’t stop there, eliminating the Mavericks from the Class AA-A Region 3, Section 1 tournament with an 8-0 win Wednesday at H.
B. Thomas Field. The win sets up the Tigers (14-3-3) to try to defend their sectional championship.
They will host No. 2 PikeView — the team they beat for last year’s title — today at 5 p.m.
“Any time you beat somebody twice in the regular season, it’s a little bit challenging to be prepared and to give your best performance in postseason,” said third-year Shady Spring coach Josiah Smith. “But I felt like the boys really were focused on the mission to go out and perform at their best from the start to the finish. I felt like they did that today.
” They did that, almost to the second. Nathan Vecellio headed in a goal off a corner kick from Parker Lester to put the Tigers up 1-0 in the game’s second minute. Eight minutes later, Gage Lemley fired a shot that Mavericks keeper Michael Balboa stopped, but Evan Rivera moved in to deposit the loose ball into the net for a 2-0 score to send the Mavericks reeling.
A mere four minutes later, Vecellio scored again off an assist from Ezra Smith to essentially deliver the knockout blow for a 3-0 lead. I think that fast start, really playing sharp from the beginning, does make it realize that there’s quality,” Smith said. “And there was quality there in the way they scored and the way they moved the ball.
I loved seeing that tonight.” It ended up being another multi-goal night for Vecellio, who scored the Tigers’ fifth goal off an assist from Luke Mackay with seven minutes before halftime. His fourth goal helped illustrate that the Tigers were not going to let up, off the pass from Ezra Smith for a 6-0 advantage three minutes into the second half.
Vecellio now has 42 goals in 20 games. Rivera, a freshman, scored his third goal a minute later, set up by Ezra Smith’s third assist. Rivera, who now has 15 goals this season, had scored his second goal in the 32nd minute after being set up by Vecellio.
The Tigers’ final goal came from Micah Smith in the 74th minute, with Garren Armentrout assisting. Despite the final score, Balboa played well in the goal for the Mavericks while facing a relentless Shady Spring attack. Saturday’s championship day will be a doubleheader with the girls.
No. 1 Shady (9-6-3) will host No. 2 Bluefield (6-5-2) at 7 p.
m. The Tigers will be going for their fourth straight sectional championship. PikeView’s boys defeated No.
3 Bluefield 6-0 on Tuesday to improve to 16-4-1. Shady owns a 2-0 victory over the Panthers and played them to a scoreless draw. “The first goal for the season was to secure the first seed so that we could host throughout postseason sectionals,” Josiah Smith said.
“The second goal was to win this game, and the third goal is to win the final on Saturday. So we know that’s going to be a tough test. We know PikeView has so much quality.
They are well coached, well organized. They’ll come with hunger and desire. So that’s mission No.
3, to beat them.”.
